Brave
by KorroksApostle
Summary: There's a monster creeping into the cells of Arkham at night and twisting the minds of the patients. Tonight, one patient waits in her cell knowing that he's coming for her. (Pre Batman Begins, OC but NO ROMANCE)


"..Father who art in heaven, I pray the lord my soul to keep. NO! No. No. nononono. Damnit. _Damnit. _

"S'wrong. You fucked up again. If y-you don't say the words right...the words to work...God can't hear you. Just-just say it right. Oh, Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name to-to to k-keep me safe while I sleep. Goddamn! I'm _sorry_ I can't remember. Too many pills swimming in my head. Its all a mess..."

The girl balled her hands into fists at her temples. She shook her head violently. They had her on so many pills she couldn't think straight, not even by the skewed standard she once knew. If she couldn't get this right, she knew he would come again. She'd been practicing the words the old priest who came by had offered to teach her. She had told him about the monster. The one who feeds on fear. He drinks it up and swallows your soul along with it. The old priest smiled sadly at her, patting her knee. He pitied her, but she suspected even a supposed man of God didn't believe her about the sneaking demon. That's probably how demons prefer it.

She couldn't say how long it had been since she was remanded here for "her own safety" but things had been getting worse lately. The monster had found her and crept into her room and filled her head with nightmares. When the big men came to lead her out to breakfast they would find her hiding under her bed, claw makes striping her face and arms and chest, clumps of bloody hair scattered around the room.

"The monster came again, last night." She tried to explain, "he vomited spiders on face and snakes sprang out of my hair. Stay with me. Please don't leave me alone again. He'll come. I know he'll come." With their eyes devoid of pity they had dragged her out and carried her to the infirmary. That was where she had been for the last week. They told her they were going to trust her in her own room. She should be grateful.

But she wasn't.

She knew the monster liked her. She was a treat he ate as often as he could but he never came when others were around. Other people must be what he fears. If she could convince or beg someone to stay with her in the night, she just knew he wouldn't come for her.

Her doctor, her beautiful icy doctor had visited before lights out. He was very kind but stayed so far away. His face was all angles and hardness except his full lips. She dreamed of touching them someday. Not even a kiss, she just wanted to know if they were truly soft or if it was just an illusion and they would be as hard as stone. She imagined that they would be.

"How do you feel, tonight?" he'd asked her.

"I...I'm really scared, honestly. Please let me go back and sleep in the infirmary or maybe share a room with another lad-"

"That won't lead to any progress." he harshly shut her down. She dropped her eyes and fidgeted with her hands anxiously.

"We want you to be able to leave here someday. If you can't even sleep behind a safely locked door, how are we ever going to get you home? Don't you miss your _home_? Your family? Do you want to be here forever?"

She looked up at him then, tears spilling from her eyes. She could hardly even remember why she was here in the first place. Everything seemed so much more confusing once she was on the inside. She remembered her life before as if it was someone else's. She remembered taking comfort in books. Hadn't she once been crafty? Somewhere in her mind she remembered her hands busied with beads.

"I don't want that. I don't want this place anymore." she managed.

He tutted, "Yes, that's what I thought. Tonight, you're going to be brave. You're going to lay in bed and fall asleep. In the morning, we'll have a session and you can tell me all about your night." he deigned to grace her with a smile, "How does that sound?"

"S'good." she replied, meekly. He stood then and gave her a curt nod.

"Sweet dreams." he said, slipping out the door.

Now here she was in bed, being choked by the darkness. The tiny barred window near the ceiling permitted her a bit of light but all she could think about was the things hiding in the shadows.

"Be strong." she commanded herself. She twisted on to her side, away from the door, "Father wants you to be strong, Doc wants you to brave. You can do it. Fall asleep and he can't get to you. J-just need to run away into tomorrow." So she squeezed her eyes shut. One last attempt at the prayer fell from her lips as the pills finally pushed her over the edge into oblivion.

.

.

.

Oh god, no.

She could feel the presence before she even opened her eyes. Her lips pulled into a thin line as she strained to hold still. If he thinks you're asleep, she reasoned, he'll see there's nothing here for him and go find someone else to snack on. So she breathed as smoothly and slowly as she could.

She heard him growl as fingers gripped her shoulder and forced her from her side to her back. She whipped her head to the side, trying not to see him.

"Open your eyes." he commanded. She shook her head, her lips still in thinned tightly. Another hand came down on her other shoulder. He dug his fingers in painfully.

"You WILL open your eyes, now."

A whimper.

"Do you want your medicine? Are you so _eager_ to make me mad?"

She started muttering, her eyes still squeezed shut.

"What are you saying?" he demanded, "Are you begging? Huh? I can't be..._merciful_ if you don't ask nice and loud so I can hear you." his voice smoothing to an almost affable tone. He leaned in close, his horrible scratchy face brushing against hers.

"...thy kingdom come, forgive us our trespasses and deliver us f-from evil. Our father who art..."

He let out a small chuckle, and wrapped his long thin fingers around her jaw pulling her face forward, "I don't think you're going to find much help from him. There's no one here but you and me. Well, not for long..." he pulled his hand away, "What do you think is going to fall out of your head tonight? Spiders, again? Shadows with claws? Do you think you'll find yourself at the top of Wayne Tower, staring down...knowing you're going to jump? Try to remain articulate if you can."

Her hands were violently trembling at her sides. She couldn't go through it again but there was no one to save her. She's said the words wrong again, she knew. God couldn't hear her.

Here, she was trapped with the devil.

She opened her eyes and tried to swallow the lump in her throat that threatened to choke her.

"Please," was all she said.

He stood, unfolding away from her to his full height. Shadowed against the darkness, she couldn't make out the creature's face that had menaced her mind so many times before, just the odd outline of long thin limbs and a stout lumpy head. But even in the dark, she knew his eyes as the impossibly black empty abysses. They held no mercy, no empathy. Just nothing.

She watched as he raised his hand, palm out to her, in a familiar gesture.

NOT AGAIN!

Her body responded without her. She pushed her hand against the wall rocketing herself forward, she tumbled on to the ground, watching a white ploom of dust swirl over her pillow. She whipped her head up as he stared at her in surprise for a moment. Immediately she began to scramble away from him, crawling desperately toward the door.

It only took him a moment to catch up to her. He reached down, snatching a handful of hair and pulling her back to him. She moaned and kicked out. Her foot made contact with his stomach and he let out a loud _oomph_ as he doubled over. With her hair free from his grasp, she scrambled over the wall. Half climbing it, half using it for support. She spun around to face him. She'd never stood before in the presence of the demon. He always caught her while she was in bed and she had never realized how small he was.

He was by no means tiny, but when he loomed over her bed he may as well have been a giant. He stood there, bent at the middle holding his gut and wheezing. How little power he seemed to have at that moment.

She felt a bubbling of emotion fill her all at once. Her anger and frustration and fear all boiled out of her core, spilling out and erupting as a fierce scream. He'd hurt her so much and she knew she had to be mad to take on a monster but being mad was why she was there in the first place. She ran at him then, he twisted around at the sound of her cry. She was on him before he could react and shoved him with both her palms.

He fell into a bony heap on the floor and she jumped on him.

"YOU BASTARD BASTARD BASTARD!" she screamed bringing her fists down. He jerked around trying to cover his sack cloth face, his arms taking the brunt of the blows. He cried out and protested but she didn't listen.

"I DON'T WANT YOU HERE! Y'HEAR ME! GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" He snatched her wrist in the air and she fell, losing her balance. He twisted their bodies, shifting his weight on hers, trapping her beneath him.

"GE'OFF! GE' OFF! GETOFFME!" she slurred, twisting and bucking her hips. The creature fumbled to catch her wrists but could do nothing about her wildly swinging legs. She bounced around under him, his legs and back catching blow after blow from erratic kicks. He grunted in pain losing his hold on her wrist.

She snarled and wildly struck out at his face with her free hand.

Then something odd happened. She pulled at his twisted face and it came away easily. The scratchy fabric was in her hand instead of over his shoulders and for reasons she couldn't comprehend Doctor Crane was on top of her.

"Doctor?" She asked, all the fight in her gone. Her heart was still thundering loudly in her ears but reality seemed to have slipped away in that moment. She still clutched the monster's face in her hand but the sack cloth suddenly felt alien and she held it tight.

"Doctor Crane, what are you doing here?"

He seemed as confused as her. His features were startled and she was surprised to see someone had hurt the doctor. His lip was bloodied and his hair mussed. After a moment his shock faded as he seemed to piece something together.

"You're having a bad dream." he said simply.

Her eyes moved around the room and to the sack in her hand.

"So I didn't beat the monster...?"

"No." he said snatching the bag from her grasp. She stared up at him then, still feeling perplexed.

"But I thought I'd finally... Did he hurt you, too?" she asked, suddenly.

Fingers gently reached up and brushed his lips. They were soft and warmer than she could have imagined. The blood smeared under touch. He flinched.

"Not made of stone." she muttered. He gently took her wrist and lowered her hand.

"No, not stone. Or straw." he muttered the last bit to himself.

"Its time for you to get back in bed now." He said curtly and removed himself her from with only minimal staggering and pained stiffness. She gingerly got to her feet as well, an ache already spreading through her body.

The cheap asylum pillow felt soft under her head for once.

"I can't tell if this was a dream or a nightmare." she said closing her eyes, feeling comforted that Crane had showed up to chase away the demon.

"Nightmare." he replied, icily.

But then he was gone. She appreciated the realism in her dream going to far as to have the door click so loudly in place.

.

.

.

In the morning she woke with a weariness in her body but her spirits felt lifted. She was excited to tell Dr. Crane all about her dreams. This time she had managed to chase the monster away and she wondered if he would be flattered that she had dreamed of him helping her. She sat in bed smiling to herself. Someday, when the monster came again, she'd do just the same as she did in the dream. Next time she'd fight tooth and nail and the creature would scurry back the hell scape he's come from.

Unfortunately she would not get to tell Dr. Crane of her dreams that day. It would seem he had come down with something in the night and could not come to work. She hoped he wasn't feeling too unwell. When he appeared again he was still hobbling and immediately disappeared into his office.

She was disappointed that they didn't have a session that day, either. She knew she was being crazy but for some reason, she had the feeling her doctor was angry with her. She couldn't imagine why.

END

A/N: I hope you enjoyed Crane getting his ass kicked by a patient as much as I did. He's not much of a fighter, is he? Naw, without that fear toxin, he kinda sucks which suits me just fine. :D Highly unpolished fic, but its my first one in forever so there we go. Let me know what you thought.

Korrok's Apostle


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